Birmingham, May 17 (H.S.): Chelsea and Aston Villa maintained their hopes of qualifying for the next Champions League by securing victories in their respective home matches on Friday. Aston Villa defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-0, while Chelsea achieved a hard-fought 1-0 win against Manchester United.

In the match played at Villa Park, the home team maintained dominance from the start, but had to wait until the 59th minute to score their first goal. On a corner taken by John McGinn, Ollie Watkins headed the ball forward, which was converted into a goal by Ezri Konsa, who was standing unmarked.

Then, in the 76th minute, Boubacar Kamara doubled Villa's lead with a low drive from the edge of the penalty box. This was Kamara's first Premier League goal in his 69th match.

French midfielder Kamara said to Sky Sports, We knew it was extremely important to win today. We want to play in the Champions League again.

On the other hand, the match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge was lackluster in the first half. However, Chelsea picked up pace in the second half, and in the 71st minute, Spanish defender Marc Cucurella scored with a header from a cross by Reece James to secure the win for the team.

With this victory, Chelsea moved up to fourth place with 66 points, while Aston Villa is in fifth place on goal difference. Apart from league winners Liverpool, teams like Arsenal (68), Newcastle (66), Manchester City (65), and Nottingham Forest (62) are also in the race for the other four Champions League spots.

Both Spurs and Manchester United rested some key players with the Europa League final happening next week. However, the good news was that no new injury problems arose for either team. Notably, both matches were played 48 hours prior to the final scheduled to take place in Bilbao on Wednesday.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar